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No. 163
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EDH sounds like a good format for brohnos to play online with.
If you don't know what EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander aka Commander) is, then it's just like Casual Magic in a Legacy format, except with a bunch of rules of their own. I would greentext all of this, because I didn't really type all of this. It's copypasta.
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Commander is designed to promote social interaction.
It is founded (and dependant) on a social contract, otherwise known as a gentleman's agreement. Unsporting conduct (whether extreme or simply "being a jerk") should not be tolerated by players. Refusing to play with antisocial persons is the fastest way to better EDH community.
However, because players have varied opinions of what constitutes fair and/or fun play, a recommended banned list is maintained to help guide players towards a good social experience. House rules or "fair play" exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community.
If you want to enjoy the type of games you've heard associated with EDH, avoid cards like these:
Ancestral Recall
Balance
Biorhythm
Black Lotus
Coalition Victory
Fastbond
Gifts Ungiven
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Karakas
Library of Alexandria
Limited Resources
Lion's Eye Diamond
Tolarian Academy
Channel
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn *NEW*
Metalworker
Mox Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, Emerald and Jet
Panoptic Mirror
Protean Hulk
Recurring Nightmare
Sway of the Stars
Time Vault
Time Walk
Tinker
Upheaval
Worldgorger Dragon
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Painter's Servant
Staff of Domination
Additionally the following legends should not be used as a Commander:
Braids, Cabal Minion
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Deck Construction Rules
Players must choose a legendary creature as the "Commander" for their deck.
A card's colour identity is the card's colour plus the colour of any mana symbols in the card's rules text.
The Commander's colour identity restricts what cards may appear in the deck.
Cards in a deck may not have any colours in their identity which are not shared with the commander of the deck. (The identity of each card in the deck must be a subset of the General's)
Lands whose type includes swamp, island, plains, forest and/or mountain (e.g.: basic lands, shocklands, dual lands, Shadowmoor special-basics, etc) DO contain the corresponding mana symbol(s) as per CR 305.6. As such, while they are "colourless" they do have a colour identity and may not appear in a deck unless the Commander is of the appropriate identity.
While hybrid mana symbols may be played with either colour mana, they contribute both colours to the card's colour identity. Therefore they may only be played with a Commander whose identity includes ALL of the hybrid symbols' colours.
Basic land words (swamp, forest, etc) in the text box of a card do NOT represent a coloured mana symbol. They are not restricted to Commander of the same colour identity.
Reminder text is not included in the colour identity of a card.
An Example of what cards are/aren't allowed in a three colour deck.
A deck may not generate mana outside its colours. If an effect would generate mana of an illegal colour, it generates colourless mana instead.
An EDH deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the Commander.
With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same english name.
EDH is played with vintage legal cards, with two exceptions:
Cards are legal as of their set's prerelease
Shahrazad is legal for play in EDH
Play rules
The start of game procedure for EDH is as follows:
Players announce their choice of Commander and move that card to the command zone.
Players may then sideboard if the optional rules for sideboards are being used.
Each player draws a hand of seven cards.
Players may mulligan, using the modified "Partial Paris" method.
Partial Paris Mulligan rule
Because EDH games are long and usually not played in multigame matches, EDH uses a modified mulligan rule designed to aleviate mana-light hands without significantly increasing the odds of finding individual cards. This is also known as the "Brittany" mulligan rule.
In turn order, players may exile (face down) some or all of the cards in their hand.
Each player then draws one less card from their deck than the number they exiled.
Players who exiled at least one card may return to step 1 and repeat the process, drawing one less card each time.
Players shuffle all exiled cards into their deck.
It is worth noting that even with this form of mulligan, decks playing an insufficient number of mana sources will routinely draw poor hands or insufficient mana as the game progresses.
Being a Commander is not a characteristic[MTG CR109.3], it is a property of the card. As such, "Commander-ness" cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects, and does not change with control of the card. Examples
If a player has been dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander during the game, that player loses a game.
This is an additional state based effect.
Commander Damage is cummulative throughout the game; nothing can reduce the amount of damage a Commander has previously done to a player.
Because it is a property of the card and not a characteristic of the game object, a card is still the same Commander even if it leaves the field and returns.
While effects can raise a player's life total, it doesn't reduce the amount of damage previously taken from a Commander. (eg: Beacon of Immortality)
Conversely, combat damage can be reduced, prevented, or replaced as it is taken, in which case it was never dealt and doesn't count towards the total taken from that Commander. (eg: Fog or Captain's Maneuver)
Commander Damage is specific to each Commander/Player pairing, not combined across all Commander.
A player can lose if he or she is dealt 21 points of combat damage by his or her own Commander (ie: under someone else's control).
While a Commander is in the command zone, it may be cast. As an additional cost to cast a Commander from the command zone, its owner must pay {2} for each time it was previously cast from the command zone. (ie: it costs 6WW to cast for the third time.) Details
If a Commander would be put into a graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the command zone instead. Details
This is a replacement effect; the creature never goes to the graveyard and will not trigger such abilities.
Commander will move to the library or hand as normal; only transitions to Exile or the Graveyard may be replaced.
Players begin the game with 40 life.
Commander are subject to the Legend rule; they will be put into the graveyard or command zone at the same time as any other Legendary creatures with the same name.
New: Abilities which refer to other cards owned outside the game (Wishes, Spawnsire, Research, Ring of Ma'ruf) do not function in EDH unless the optional sideboard rule is in use. If sideboards are used, wishes and similar cards may retrieve sideboard cards.
EDH is designed first and foremost for social players. It cannot be all things to all people.
Nevertheless, many people like to play EDH for prizes or other non-social incentives. Those incentives can help build communities and playgroups, but they can also undermine the social contract which keeps EDH balanced.
When running a competitive EDH event, the recommended list of cards to avoid (under the primary, "social" rules) is one place to start. It is not however, nor is it intended to be, comprehensive. It still allows for a very high level of power, in part because there are many, many two card instant wins in the history of Magic. Additional structure is required to keep degeneracy 1 in check. To that end, a selection of optional rules are provided here for prospective TOs or players who find their playgroup can't find a balance.
Optional rules for EDH
EDH Sideboards
Rather than filling every deck with banal responses, it is preferable to allow some flexibility in the composition of a deck.
Players may bring a 10 card sideboard in addition to their 99 cards and 1 Commander.
After Commanders are announced, players have 3 minutes to make 1-for-1 substitutions to their deck.
Any cards not played as part of the deck may be retrieved by "wishes".
Reasoning:
Highly tuned threats piloted by skilled opponents mandate efficient answers. The minimum number of response cards required to ensure they are available in the early turns can easily overwhelm the majority of an EDH deck's building space.
Sideboards allow players to respond to the "best" strategies in a timely fashion . They should be strongly considered as a necessary defense against brokenness and degeneracy in an EDH environment where no gentlemans agreement on style of play exists.
Victory Points
Instead of a "last man standing" win condition, organizers are encouraged to use additional or alternate ways to win. Prizes can be awarded for things like:
most combat damage dealt in a single turn
biggest mana pool
Commander Damage kills
Most mana paid for a Commander
etc
By encouraging players to play for disparate, interesting goals everyone has a more rewarding, social experience.
An extensive example can be found here
Democratic Victory
An organizer who desires a tournament which better approximates normal EDH games should reward players for some balance of winning and social play. One way to achieve this is
When the game is over, each player votes for an opponent whose play they enjoyed most.
Award two points for being the last player alive, and one point for each vote
Prizes can be given out by points awarded.
In addition, some commonly used but more fun-oriented optional rules are presented here for players to consider.
The League Rule
An EDH "League" consists of a regular group of players who frequently play together using the same decks. No two players in a league game may have the same Commander. Within a given league, Commander are allocated first-come, first-serve and are preserved between meetings/games. No player may have, in his or her deck, the Commander of any other player in the game; it should be replaced with some other card before the game begins.
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Happy EDHing, brohnos!
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